O.C. ficlet
Originally for 
theoc100 first impressions challenge, but it grew slightly longer than intended.
Stray
Seth/Ryan, pre-slash
PG
Ryan finds comfort in the familiarity of his past. He holds up his hands and sees the scars in the flesh as if they were etchings in stone, landmarks of each battle he’s fought during his life in Chino. Violence is the only way he knows how to get what he wants, stealing soda and stale chips from vending machines and fishing quarters out with the curved hook of a wire hanger.
Mom was never home long enough to cook something edible and real, and when she was, she would sit and smoke the day away, or pretend to watch the snow of the television while drowning her silent tears with a bottle of cheap liquor. Ryan stopped knowing what to do to comfort his own mother a long time ago.
Ryan feels nothing but contempt for Sandy when he first offers him a helping hand. The thought of Orange County brings to mind rich kids all alike in their plastic beauty, perfect and unscathed, no scars on their hands. Where friends are nothing more than accessories and everyday is a popularity contest.
He had doubted that he would stay there long.
When Sandy brings him home, to the mansion with the pool house, to Kirsten the wife and Seth the son, Ryan is a bit overwhelmed. Especially by Seth, wide-eyed and laid back, offering him a controller to play video games with.
“Wanna play?” He asks, and Ryan can’t find any harm in the act. Seth is innocent in a way that Ryan has never really experienced until now.
“You’re losing, by the way,” Seth remarks casually, and Ryan bites his bottom lip, the effort of intense concentration twisting his features. “It’s okay, though,” he continues, swiftly kicking Ryan’s butt with the press of three buttons, “I’ll let you win the next round.” He grins, eyes sparking to life.
That’s when Ryan knows. Seth is different than the rest, than the girl named Marissa that he’d met earlier. Seth is a diamond in the rough, and maybe Ryan will be lucky enough to stick around and see his transformation. Maybe Ryan can find his home in this new, unfamiliar place, with Seth as his beacon in the murky waters that wash up around the harbor.
end.
theoc100 first impressions challenge, but it grew slightly longer than intended.Stray
Seth/Ryan, pre-slash
PG
Ryan finds comfort in the familiarity of his past. He holds up his hands and sees the scars in the flesh as if they were etchings in stone, landmarks of each battle he’s fought during his life in Chino. Violence is the only way he knows how to get what he wants, stealing soda and stale chips from vending machines and fishing quarters out with the curved hook of a wire hanger.
Mom was never home long enough to cook something edible and real, and when she was, she would sit and smoke the day away, or pretend to watch the snow of the television while drowning her silent tears with a bottle of cheap liquor. Ryan stopped knowing what to do to comfort his own mother a long time ago.
Ryan feels nothing but contempt for Sandy when he first offers him a helping hand. The thought of Orange County brings to mind rich kids all alike in their plastic beauty, perfect and unscathed, no scars on their hands. Where friends are nothing more than accessories and everyday is a popularity contest.
He had doubted that he would stay there long.
When Sandy brings him home, to the mansion with the pool house, to Kirsten the wife and Seth the son, Ryan is a bit overwhelmed. Especially by Seth, wide-eyed and laid back, offering him a controller to play video games with.
“Wanna play?” He asks, and Ryan can’t find any harm in the act. Seth is innocent in a way that Ryan has never really experienced until now.
“You’re losing, by the way,” Seth remarks casually, and Ryan bites his bottom lip, the effort of intense concentration twisting his features. “It’s okay, though,” he continues, swiftly kicking Ryan’s butt with the press of three buttons, “I’ll let you win the next round.” He grins, eyes sparking to life.
That’s when Ryan knows. Seth is different than the rest, than the girl named Marissa that he’d met earlier. Seth is a diamond in the rough, and maybe Ryan will be lucky enough to stick around and see his transformation. Maybe Ryan can find his home in this new, unfamiliar place, with Seth as his beacon in the murky waters that wash up around the harbor.
end.